Apr. 10, 2011

Former champion Phil Mickelson (back) helps Charl Schwartzel with his green jacket after winning the Masters on Sunday in Augusta, Ga. / AP

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If you didn't have an abacus, blood pressure medication and sunscreen, you were ill-prepared for the final round at Augusta National Golf Club.

They say the Masters doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday. And, in rare instances, clichés are simply truisms.

The tallest, fastest, most rickety roller coaster Six Flags has to offer has nothing on the finish to the 2011 Masters.

It was one wild ride.

While eight different players shared the Masters lead at some point during the closing nine holes in one of the most thrilling final days in tournament history, 26-year-old South African Charl Schwartzel seized the moment down the stretch.

The 140-pounder was a brute. It seemed impossible to top his miracle hole-outs on Nos. 1 and 3 just to get into contention, but the player ranked 29th in the world entering the week became the first player to birdie the final four holes to win the Masters.

Schwartzel, whose first name is pronounced "Sharl," made a 12-foot birdie on No. 18 to capture his first major, best a pair of Australians by a pair of strokes and cap one of the most improbable days in golf.

"It was very loud out there today and I thought that Saturday was loud, but today was something else," Schwartzel said.

As sweet as Sunday's finish proved to be for Schwartzel, it was equally as nightmarish for overnight leader Rory McIlroy. The 21-year-old's game disintegrated after he stepped onto the 10th tee.

Holding a one-stroke lead, McIlroy made a triple bogey from another planet left of the 10th fairway. Disaster was compounded by a three-putt bogey at No. 11 and a four-putt double bogey at No. 12.

McIlroy finished with an 8-over-par 80 and plummeted into a tie for 15th place at 4 under for the event.

"I hit a bad tee shot on 10, and then never, never really recovered," McIlroy said. "You know, it's going to be hard to take for a few days, but I'll get over it. I'm fine."

Tiger Woods, a four-time Masters champion, awakened the echoes of his heyday with three birdies and an eagle on the front nine. His eagle at No. 8 pushed him into a tie with McIlroy and Schwartzel at 10 under. However, Woods' putter let him down over the final nine holes and he was forced to settle for a 5-under-67 — his best Sunday round at Augusta — and a second straight tie for fourth at the tournament.

Aussie Adam Scott held a two-shot lead after a birdie on No. 16 while countryman Jason Day held a share on the back nine, too.

"I was trying not to look at leaderboards too much," said Scott, who was steamrolled by Schwartzel's quartet of birdies. "But it's easy to figure out with roars and groans and stuff what's going on out there."

The Masters, again, raised the bar in terms of drama.

"It was unreal," said Day, whose birdie at No. 18 earned him a tie with Scott for the runner-up spot. "It's probably the most excited I've ever been in a golf tournament. It's the most exciting tournament I've ever played in.

"And you just — you're out there in the middle of the fairway and there's roars around you and you don't know what's going on. And then all you see is that little number pop up on the leaderboards and everyone screaming. And it's an amazing feeling to be out there in the thick of things."

Former champion Angel Cabrera, K.J. Choi and Geoff Ogilvy were also tied for the lead at some point in the waning moments Sunday.

Normally, patrons can track the leaderboard on Sunday by the ferocity and location of the roars around the grounds, but there came a point where it was impossible to decipher one momentum swing from the next.

Until the 18th green, when Schwartzel became the champion of the 75th Masters. On the 50th anniversary of countryman Gary Player's first Green Jacket? You can't make this stuff up.

"I've seen it so many times sitting at home, guys walking up the 18th," Schwartzel said. "It just really felt good."